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JOHN ELIOT'S 

First Indian Teacher and 
Interpreter 

COCKENOE-DE-LONG ISLAND 



AND 



The Story of His Career from the Early Records 



BY 

WILLIAM WALLACE TOOKER 

Member of the Long Island Historical Society, Anthropological 
Society of Washington, etc., etc. 



" He was the first that I made use of to teach me words 
and to be my interpreter." — Eliot's Letter, 2, 12, 1648. 



APR a&1896 



NEW YORK 

FRANCIS P. HARPER P , 
1896 



£D0 



Copyright, 1896, 

BY 

FRANCIS P. HARPER. 



RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED TO THE OFFICERS AND MEMBERS 
OF THE SUFFOLK COUNTY (N. Y.) HISTORICAL 
SOCIETY BY YOUR FELLOW MEMBER 

WILLIAM WALLACE TOOKER. 



INTRODUCTION. 



This little work is a brief risumi of the 
career of an Indian of Long Island, who, from 
his exceptional knowledge of the English lan- 
guage, his traits of character, and strong per- 
sonality, was recognized as a valuable coadjutor 
and interpreter by many of our first English 
settlers. These personal attributes were also 
known and appreciated by the inhabitants of 
some parts of Connecticut and Massachusetts, by 
the Commissioners of the United Colonies of 
New England, and by the Governor of the 
Colony of New York, all of whom found occa- 
sion for his services in their transactions with 
the Indians. The facts which I shall present in 
their chronological order, and the strong circum- 
stantial evidence adduced therefrom, will indi- 
cate the reasons why I have unraveled the 

vii 

r 



viii 



Introduction. 



threads of this Indians life from the weft of the 
past y and why the recital of his career should be 
the theme of a special essay \ and worthy of a 
distinctive chapter in the aboriginal, as well as 
in the Colonial, history of Long Island. 

William Wallace Tooker. 

Sag Harbor, L. I., March, 1896. 



COCKENOE-DE-LONG ISLAND. 



HE victory of Captain John Mason and 



Captain John Underhill over the Pe- 



quots on the hills of Mystic, in 1637, in 
its results was far greater than that of Welling- 
ton on the field of Waterloo. This fact will 
impress itself in indelible characters on the 
minds of those who delve into the historical 
truths connected with the genesis of our settle- 
ments, so wide spreading were the fruits of this 
victory. As the native inhabitants of the eastern 
part of Long Island and the adjacent islands 
were subjects of, and under tribute to, these 




i o Cockenoe-de-Long Island. 



dreaded Pequots, 1 they were more or less dis- 
turbed by the issues of the after conflicts which 
ensued in hunting out the fleeing survivors. 
But as two of the Long Island Sachems, Yoco, 
the Sachem of Shelter Island, and Wyandanch, 
the Sachem of Montauk, through the mediation 
of their friend Lion Gardiner came three days 
after the fight, and placed themselves under the 
protection of the victors, 2 and, as the latter with 
his men assisted Captain Stoughton during the 
finale at the " Great Swamp," 3 beyond New 
Haven, they did not feel the effects so severely 
as did the immediate allies of the Pequots. 

1 "The Pequots were a very warlike and potent people about forty 
years since, (1624) at which time they were in their meridian. Their 
chief Sachem held dominion over divers petty Sagamores, as over part of 
Long Island, over the Mohegans, and over the Sagamores of Quinapak, 
yea, over all the people that dwelt on Connecticut river, and over some 
of the most southerly inhabitants of the Nipmuk country about Quina- 
bang." — Gookin's History. 

Gardiner's Relation of the Pequot Wars (Lion Gardiner and his Descend- 
ants, by C. C. Gardiner, 1890) : " Then said he, (Waiandance) I will go 
to my brother, for he is the great Sachem of Long Island, and if we 
may have peace and trade with you, we will give you tribute as we did 
the Pequits." 

2 Relation of the Pequot Wars (Lion Gardiner and his Descendants, 
by C. C. Gardiner, 1890), p. 17. 

3 Ibid., pp. 17, 18. 



Cockenoe-de-Long Island. 



1 1 



Many of the younger Indians captured in this 
war, especially those taken in Connecticut, were 
carried to Boston, and there sold into slavery, 
or distributed around the country into a limited 
period of servitude 4 — a period generally termi- 
nating when the individual so bound had 
arrived at the age of twenty-five. 

Among those so captured and allotted was a 
young Indian of Long Island, who became a 
servant in the family of a prominent citizen of 
Dorchester, Mass., 5 a sergeant in the same war, 
and therefore possibly his captor. This young 
Indian having been a native of Long Island, 
and on a visit, was perhaps a reason why he was 
detained in the colony, for the young male 
Pequots, we are told, were all expatriated. 6 

4 Morton's New England's Memorial, 1669, Reprint 1855, p. 131 : 
" We send the male children to Bermuda by Mr. William Pierce, and 
the women and maid children are disposed about in the towns." 

6 " Richard Collacot was a prominent man in Dorchester. He had been 
a sergeant in the Pequot War, and held also at various times the offices 
of Selectman and of Representative." In 1641, with two associates, he 
was licensed by the Governor of Massachusetts, to trade with the Indians, 
also to receive all wampum due for any tribute from Block Island, Long 
Island Pequots or any other Indians. — Archaeologia Americana, vol. vii. 
pp. 67, 434- 

6 New England's Memorial, 1669. Reprint 1855, p. 131. 



12 



Cockenoe-de-Long Island. 



In proof of these findings of fact we have the 
testimony of the Rev. John Eliot, than whom 
no one is better known for his labors in behalf 
of the spiritual welfare of the Indians of eastern 
Massachusetts, and for his works in their lan- 
guage, including that monumental work which 
went through two editions, Eliot's Indian Bible. 
It is thought that Eliot began his study of 
the Indian language about 1643, but it is possi- 
ble that he began much earlier. In a letter 
dated February 12, 1649 (2-12-48), he wrote: 

" There is an Indian living with Mr. Richard 
Calicott of Dorchester, who was taken in the 
Pequott warres, though belonging to Long 
Island. This Indian is ingenious, can read, and 
I taught him to write, which he quickly learnt, 
though I know not what use he now maketh of 
it. He was the first that I made use of to teach 
me words, and to be my interpreter." 

At the end of his Indian grammar (printed at 
Cambridge in 1666) Mr. Eliot gives us an 
account of his method of learning the language 
and some more information in regard to this 
young Long Island Indian. He writes : " I 




£ Indian ft 



Jgg The way nf training «|j of <^r ^ 
IndiAn Youth In the g-iSl 

^||? knowledge of Gad, in the f§£|> 
knowledge of the So *i prune*.: «%f>- 

'^jjgg' and tn an ability to Beade. 

CompofedijJ.E. . |§> 

rms \ vKKibi vg •vsmtinmufar.a .. £ _ 

^ ^TT^rr' ■ ^ 



FAC-SIMILE OF THE TITLE-PAGE OF THE PRIMER OF 1669. 



Cockenoe-de-Long Island. 1 3 

have now finished what I shall do at present ; 
and in a word or two to satisfie the prudent En- 
quirer how I found out these new ways of gram- 
mar, which no other Learned Language (so 
farre as I know) useth ; I thus inform him : God 
first put into my heart a compassion over their 
poor souls, and a desire to teach them to know 
Christ, and to bring them into his kingdome. 
Then presently I found out, (by Gods wise 
providence) a pregnant witted young man, who 
had been a servant in an English house, who 
pretty well understood our Language, better 
than he could speak it, and well understood his 
own Language, and hath a clear pronuncia- 
tion ; Him I made my Interpreter. By his help 
I translated the Commandments, the Lords 
Prayer, and many Texts of Scripture : also I 
compiled both exhortations and prayers by his 
help, I diligently marked the difference of their 
grammar from ours ; when I found the way of 
them, I would pursue a Word, a Noun, a Verb, 
through all the variations I could think of. 
We must sit still and look for Miracles ; up, and 
be doing, and the Lord will be with thee. 



1 4 Cockenoe-de-Long Island. 



Prayer and pains through Faith in Christ Jesus, 
will do anything." 

In 1646 Mr. Eliot began to preach to the 
Indians in their own tongue. About the middle 
of September he addressed a company of the 
natives in the wigwam of Cutshamoquin, the 
Sachem of Neponset, within the limits of Dor- 
chester. His next attempt was made among 
the Indians of another place, " those of Dor- 
chester mill not regarding any such thing." On 
the 28th of October he delivered a sermon 
before a large number assembled in the prin- 
cipal wigwam of a chief named Waban, situated 
four or five miles from Roxbury, on the south 
side of the Charles river, near Watertown mill, 
now in the township of Newton. The services 
were commenced with prayer, which, as Mr. 
Shepard relates, " now was in English, being not 
so farre acquainted with the Indian language as 
to expresse our hearts herein before God or 
them." After Mr. Eliot had finished his dis- 
course, which was in the Indian language, he 
44 asked them if they understood all that which 
was already spoken, and whether all of them in 



Cockenoe-de-Long Island. 1 5 

the wigwam did understand, or onely some few? 
and they answered to this question with mul- 
titude of voyces, that they all of them did under- 
stand all that which was then spoken to them." 
He then replied to a number of questions which 
they propounded to him, 4< borrowing now and 
then some small helpe from the Interpreter whom 
wee brought with us, and who could oftentimes 
expresse our minds more distinctly than any of us 
could.' 1 Three more meetings were held at this 
place in November and December of the same 
year, accounts of which are given by the Rev. 
Thomas Shepard in the tract, entitled, The Day- 
Breaking, if not the Sun-Rising of the Gospell 
with the Indians in New England, Lon- 
don, 1647. I have quoted these letters and 
remarks from the interesting notes on John 
Eliot's life, contributed to Pilling's Algonquian 
Bibliography, 7 by Mr. Wilberforce Eames of the 
Lenox Library, New York. 

As Mr. Eliot in the foregoing letters has 
testified to what extent he was indebted to this 
young Indian, there can arise no question what- 
ever as to the great influence which the 
7 pp. 176, 117. 



1 6 Cockenoe-de-Long Island. 



instruction and information thus obtained must 
have had on his subsequent knowledge of the 
Indian language. It also indicates how close 
an affinity and how little dialectical difference 
existed between the language spoken by the 
eastern Long Island Indians and that of the 
Natick or Massachusetts Indians to which his 
works are credited. In fact, the identity 
between these two dialects is closer than exists 
between either of them and the Narrag-ansett 
of Roger Williams, as can be easily proven 
by comparison. Again, Eliot, in his grammar 
twenty years afterward, as I have before quoted, 
by so confessing his obligation to his young 
teacher to the total exclusion of Job Nesutan, 
who took his place, 8 shows how he appreciated 
the instruction first imparted. Eliot having 
written, in the winter of 1648-49, that he taught 

8 Eliot wrote October 21, 1650 : "I have one already who can write, 
so that I can read his writing well, and he (with some paines and teaching) 
can read mine." The native here referred to was, without doubt, Job 
Nesutan, who had taken the place of the Long Island Indian, Eliot's 
first instructor in the language. He is mentioned by Gookin in the 
History of the Christian Indians as follows: "In this expedition 
[July, 1675] one of our principal soldiers of the praying Indians was 
slain, a valiant and stout man named Job Nesutan ; he was a very good 



Cockenoe-de-Long Island. 1 7 



this Indian how to read and to write, which he 
quickly learned, though he knew not what use 
he then made of the knowledge, it becomes 
apparent to all that he had then departed, to 
Eliot's great regret, from the scene of Eliot's 
labors in Massachusetts ; and, as seems to have 
been the case, had returned to the home of his 
ancestors on Long Island sometime between 
the fall of 1646, when he was with Eliot in 
Waban's wigwam, and the winter of 1649, when 
Eliot wrote. 9 Whether his time as a servant 
had expired, or whether he longed for the 
country of his youth and childhood, we perhaps 
shall never learn. 

At this point the interesting question arises, 
Can we identify any one of the Long Island 
Indians of this period with the " interpreter" or 
"pregnant witted young man" of John Eliot? 

linguist in the English tongue, and was Mr. Eliot's assistant and inter- 
preter in his translations of the Bible, and other books of the Indian 
language." — Bibliography of the Alqonquian Language ; Pilling (Eames's 
Notes, p. 127). 

9 In the summer of 1647 Eliot visited some more remote Indians about 
Cape Cod and toward the Merrimack river, where he improved the 
opportunity by preaching to them. It is probable that about this time 
his interpreter left Dorchester. 



1 8 Cockenoe-de-Long Island. 



Here it must be conceded that the evidence is 
entirely circumstantial and not direct; but withal 
so strong and so convincing as to make me a 
firm believer in its truth, as I shall set it forth 
before you. 

I shall begin my exposition with the Indian 
deed of the East Hampton township, dated 
April 29, 1 648, 10 where we find, by the power 
acquired by the grantees from the Farrett mort- 
gage of 1641, 11 that Thomas Stanton made a 
purchase from the Indians for Theophilus Eaton, 
Esq., Governor of the Colony of New Haven, 
and Edward Hopkins, Esq., Governor of the 
Colony of Connecticut, and their associates 
''for all that tract of land lyinge from the 
bounds of the Inhabitants of Southampton, 
unto the East side of Napeak, next unto Meun- 
tacut high land, with the whole breadth from 

10 East Hampton Records, vol. i. pp. 3, 45 ; Chronicles of East 
Hampton ; p. 113. 

11 Thompson's History of Long Island, vol. ii. p. 311, 312, 313. The 
rights acquired by this mortgage are very explicit, and began as soon 
the same was sealed and delivered. Its bearing on the purchases from the 
Indians by the Colonies of Connecticut seems to have been overlooked 
by all our historians. < 



Cockenoe-de-Long Island. 19 



sea to sea, etc.," this conveyance is signed by 
the four Sachems of Eastern Long Island — to 
wit: Poggatacut™ the Sachem of Munhansett ; 
Wyandanch™ the Sachem of Meuntacut ; Monio- 
weta, u the Sachem of Corchake ; Nowedonah^ 
the Sachem of Shinecok, and their marks are 
witnessed by Cheekanoo, who is thereon stated 
to have been " their Interpreter."™ 

13 This is the only instance in the early records of Long Island where 
we find the old Sachem of Shelter Island called Poggatacut. I believe it 
to have been rather the name of a place where he lived, either at Cockles 
Harbor, or on Menantic Creek, Shelter Island. Poggat-ac-ut = Pohqut- 
ack-ut, " at the divided or double place." Cockles Harbor is protected 
on the north by two Islands, which during low tides are one Island. It 
was probably the sheltered condition of this harbor which gave the island 
its Indian name as well as its English. It was at this locality that Govert 
Loockmans purchased two geese from the chief Rochbou [Yoco] in 1647. 
— Colonial History of New York, vol. xiv. p. 94. 

n Wyandanch = Wayan-tauncke, " the wise speaker or talker." 

14 Momoweta = Mohmd-wetud, " he gathereth or brings together in his 
house." 

15 Nowedonah = N'owi-ddnoh, " I seek him," or " I go to seek him." 
This Sachem was formerly called Witaneymen or Weenagamin, and he 
probably changed his name when he went to spy out the enemies of the 
Dutch in 1645 (Colonial History of New York, vol. xiv. p. 60), see also 
Thompson's Long Island, vol. i. p. 365, Plymouth Colonial Records, vol. 
ix. p. 18, where he is called Weenakamin, i. e., " bitter berry." 

16 The original of this deed has been stolen from the Town Clerk's 
office at East Hampton ; consequently, I am unable to verify the spelling 
of these names. On some copies of this deed .this name is printed 



2o Cockenoe-de-Long Island. 



Here we find confronting us, not only a re- 
markable, but a very unusual circumstance, in 
the fact that an Indian of Long Island, who is 
called " Cheekanoo" is acting as an interpreter 
for these four Sachems, together with Thomas 
Stanton, 17 another well-known interpreter of the 
Colonies, as an intermediary in making the pur- 
chase. It is very clear to me, and I think it 
will be to all, that if this Indian was sufficiently 
learned to speak English, and so intelligent as 
to act as an interpreter, with all such a qualifi- 
cation would indicate, in 1648, the year before 
Eliot commended his ingenious teacher, and 
within the time he seems to have returned to 
Long Island, he must have acquired his knowl- 
edge from someone who had taken great pains 
in bestowing it, and that one must have been 
John Eliot. We have found that Eliot does 
not mention him by name in existing letters; 
but, as before quoted, simply calls him his " In- 

Checta7ioo; an evident error, for in no other instance do I find the k in 
his name replaced by a t. 

" See Pilling's Algonquian Bibliography (pp. 396, 397), for a brief 
sketch of Thos. Stanton's career as an Interpreter to the Commissioners 
of the United Colonies of New England. 



Cockenoe-de-Long Island. 2 1 



terpreter"; therefore, let us learn how a transla- 
tion of his Long Island appellation will bear on 
this question. 

This name, Cheekanoo, Cockenoe, Chickino, 
Chekkonnow, or Cockoo, — no matter how varied 
in the records of Long Island and elsewhere, 
for every Town Clerk or Recorder, with but a 
limited or no knowledge of the Indian tongue 
and its true sounds, wrote down the name as it 
suited him, and seldom twice alike even on the 
same page, — finds its parallel sounds in the Mas- 
sachusetts of both Eliot and Cotton, in the verb 
kuhkinneau, or kehkinnoo, " he marks, observes, 
takes knowledge, instructs, or imitates " ; 18 
hence, " he interprets," and therefore indicating 
by a free translation " an interpreter or teacher" ; 
this word in its primitive form occurs in all dia- 
lects of the same linguistic family — that is, the 
Algonquian — in an infinite number of com- 

18 The root kuhkoo or kehkoo, has simply the idea of "mark" or a 
"sign," which in Algonquian polysynthesis is modified according to its 
grammatical affixes, and the sense of the passage used, when translated 
into an alien tongue. But it must be remembered, however, that its 
primary meaning was never lost to an Indian — a fact well known to all 
students of Indian linguistics. 



2 2 Cockenoe-de-Long Island. 



pounds, denoting "a scholar; teacher; a thing 
signified ; I say what he says, i. e. y repeat after 
him," etc. 19 

These I may call inferential marks by the 
wayside, and with what is to follow are surely 
corroborative evidence strong enough to enable 
me to assume that I am on the right trail, and 
that " Cheekanoo" and John Eliot's young man 
were one and the same individual. In its ac- 
ceptance it becomes obvious that he must have 
been so termed before the date of the East 
Hampton conveyance, while still with Eliot in 
Massachusetts. Indian personal names were 
employed to denote some remarkable event in 
their lives, and having been a teacher and an 
interpreter of Eliot's, and continuing in the 
same line afterward, which gave him greater 
celebrity, it was natural that he should retain 
the name throughout his life. 

A little over two weeks after the East Hamp- 
ton transaction, by a deed dated May 16, 1648 20 

19 Compare the various derivates from the Nipissing (Cuoq) kikina and 
kikino ; Otchipwe (Baraga) kikino ; Cree (Lacomb) okiskino ; Delaware 
(Zeisberger) kikino, etc. 

80 Book of Deeds, vol. ii. p. 210, office of the Secretary of State, Albany, 



Cockenoe-de-Long Island. 2 3 



(O. S.), Mammawetoughy the Sachem of Cor- 
change, with the possible assistance of our inter- 
preter, who, it seems to me, could not have been 
dispensed with on such an occasion, conveys 
Hashamomuck neck — which included all the land 
to the eastward of Pipe's Neck creek, in South- 
old town, on which the villages of Greenport, 
East Marion, and Orient are located, together 
with Plum Island — to Theophilus Eaton, 
Stephen Goodyeare, and Captain Malbow of 
New Haven. This is known as the Indian deed 
for the " Oyster Ponds," and while Cheekanod s 
name does not appear on this copy of a copy, 
for the original has long been lost, it is possible 
that it may be disguised in the name of one of 
the witnesses, Pitchamock. 

While we may infer from the foregoing docu- 
ments that his services must have been neces- 
sarily in constant demand by the colonists in 
their interviews with the natives, during the 
four years following the making of these deeds, 



N. Y. A copy of this deed, from a contemporary copy made by Richard 
Terry, then on sale at Dodd & Mead's, New York, was contributed to the 
Greenport Watchman by Wm. S. Pelletreau, June 6, 1891. 



24 Cockenoe-de-Long Island. 



we do not find him again on record until Febru- 
ary 25, 1652 21 (O. S., February 15, 165 1), when 
he is identically employed as at East Hamp- 
ton, by the proprietors of Norwalk, Conn., 
probably on the recommendation of the au- 
thorities at New Haven ; and his name ap- 
pears among the grantors, in two places on 
the Indian deed for the Norwalk plantation as 
" Cockenoe-de-Long Island." But, as he did not 
sign the conveyance, it shows that he had no 
vested rights therein, but simply acted for the 
whites and Indians as their interpreter. From 
the possible fact that he perhaps erected his 
wigwam there during this winter and spring of 
1651-52, thus giving it a distinctive appella- 
tion, an island in the Long Island sound off 
Westport, Conn., near the mouth of the Sauga- 
tuck river, bears his name in the possessive as 
" Cockenoes Island" to this day, as will be 
noted by consulting a Coast Survey chart. 
That the name was bestowed in his time is 
proven by the record "that it was agreed (in 
1672) that the said Island called Cockenoe is to 

21 Hall's Norwalk, p. 35. 



Cockenoe-de-Long Is land. 2 5 



lie common for the use of the town as all the 
other Islands are." 22 This island is one of the 
largest and most easterly of the group known 
as the " Norwalk Islands," or as they were 
designated by the early Dutch navigators, the 
Archipelago. 23 The fact that his name is dis- 
played on this deed for Norwalk, and as the 
name for this island, has been a puzzle to many 
historians ; but that it does so appear is easily 
accounted for, when we know what his abilities 
were, and why he was there. 

On September 2, 165 2,^ the fall of the year 
that he was at Norwalk, he appeared before the 
Commissioners of the United Colonies of New 
England, then assembled at Hartford, as their 
records bear witness in the following language : 
" Whereas we were informed by Checkanoe an 
Indian of Menhansick Island, on behalf of the 

22 Hall's Norwalk, p. 62. 

23 Another island of this group bears the personal name of an Indian 
who was called Mamachimin (Hall's Norwalk, pp. 30, 93, 97. He 
joined in the Indian deed to Roger Ludlow of Norwalk, February 26, 
1640, corresponding to March 8, 1641). The name still survives, abbre- 
viated to " Chimons Island." 

24 Colonial Records of Connecticut, vol. iv. p. 476. 



26 Cockenoe-de~Long Island. 



Indian inhabitants of said island, that they are 
disturbed in their possession by Captain Mid- 
dleton and his agents, upon pretense of a pur- 
chase from Mr. Goodyeare of New Haven, who 
bought the same of one Mr. Forrett, a scotch- 
man, and by vertue thereof the said Indians 
are threatened to be forced off the said island 
and to seek an habitation where they can get 
it ; the said Indians deny that they sold the 
said island to the said Forrett ; and that the 
said Forrett was a poor man, not able to pur- 
chase it, but the said Indians gave to the said 
Forrett some part of the said Island and marked 
it out by some trees ; yet never, that them- 
selves be deprived of their habitation there, 
and therefore they desired that the Commis- 
sioners (they being their tributaries) to see they 
have justice in the premises, the Commissioners 
therefore, in regard the said Mr. Goodyeare is 
not present, and that he is of New Haven juris- 
diction, and at their Court, to hear to complaint 
of the said Indians, and to satisfy the said 
Indians if they can, if not to certify the Com- 
missioners at the next meeting, the truth of 



Cockenoe-de-Long Island. 2 7 



the premises ; that some further order may be 
taken therein as shall be meet." 

As the result of this emphatic protest by Check- 
anoe, and in evidence of its truth and fairness, 
we find that on the 27th of December follow- 
ing, 25 Captain Middleton and associates were 
obliged to satisfy the Indians, by purchasing 
Shelter Island, or as it was called by the 
Indians Manhansick ahaquazuwamuck^ from 
the Sachem Yoco, formerly called Unkenchie, 
and other of his chief men, among whom we 
find one called Actoncocween™ which I believe 
to be simply another descriptive term for our 
hero, for the word signifies "an interpreter," 
or "he who repeats," z. e., " the repeat 
man." 

This sale was certified to at Southold the 

26 East Hampton Records, vol. i. pp. 96-97. 

26 Manhansick ahaquazuivamuck — Manhan-es-et-ahaquazuzo atmuk, 
"at or about the island sheltered their fishing-place," or " their sheltered 
fishing-place at or about the island," see Brooklyn Eagle Almanac, 1895, 
P- 55 f " Some Indian Fishing Stations upon Long Island." 

27 Compare Delaware (Zeisberger) Anhuktonheen^ "interpreter, 
Ekhikuweet, " talker " ; Lenape (Brinton) Anhoktonhen, " to interpret "; 
Otchipwe (Baraga) Anikanotagewin, " interpreter," or "his work as an 
interpreter," Anikanotage, " I repeat what another says." 



28 Cockenoe-de-Long Island. 



following spring, 28 but the deeds themselves 
have long been lost, and the pages of the 
volume on which they were entered despoiled 
of their contents by some vandal years ago. 
These items of record, however, point to one 
conclusion, that if the owners of Shelter Island 
were unable to produce Forrett's deed from the 
Indians in 1652, which they seem to have been 
unable to do, it is not at all likely that it will 
ever be discovered. It also indicates that 
Forrett's title, as well as that of Mr. Good- 
yeare, rested on a frail foundation as far as 
the whole island was concerned, and that the 
Indians were right in their protest. 

In this year according to tradition, or what is 
more in accordance with facts, in the spring of 
1653, 29 Yoco Unkenchie or Poggatacut, as he is 

28 Southold Records, vol. i. p. 158. 

29 The late David Gardiner in his Chronicles of East Hampton, p. 
33, and other Long Island historians following him, place this event 
in the year 165 1 ; but as Yoco, as he is more often called, united with 
the chief men of his tribe in the deed to Captain Middleton and associ- 
ates on the 27th of December, 1652, a date which was, in accordance 
with our present mode of computing time, January 6, 1653, would 
indicate beyond question the error of our historians in assigning his death 
previous. 



Cockenoe-de-Long Island. 29 



variously named, passed away. The tribe, now 
without a head, and weak in tribal organization, 
migrated from Shelter Island. Some went to 
Montauk and to Shinnecock, while a few united 
with the Cutchogues. During the following 
three or four years much alarm was created 
from the rumor that the Dutch were endeavor- 
ing to incite the Indians against the English. 30 
The conduct of the Montauks and Shinnecocks 
was such that they were particularly distrusted, 
and they were forbidden without special leave 
to come into the settlements. 31 It was for- 
bidden to furnish them with powder, shot, or 

80 East Hampton Records, vol. i. p. 31 : " It is ordered noe Indian 
shall Come to the Towne unles it be upon special occasion and none to 
come armed because that the Dutch hath hired Indians agst the English 
and we not knowing Indians by face and because the Indians hath cast 
of their sachem, and if any of the Indians or other by night will come 
in to the towne in despit of eyther watch or ward upon the third stand 
to shoote him or if thay rune away to shoote him" (April 26, 1653). 

31 Southampton Records, vol. i. p. 90 (April 25, 1653) : "At agenerall 
court Liberty is given to any Inhabitant to sell unto ye Sachem any manner 
of vituals for the supply of his family for a month's time from the date 
hereof, Mr. Odell haveing promised to use his best endeavors to see that 
the said Sachem buy not for other Indians but for his particular use as 
aforesaid." It is probable from the following note that this Sachem 
was Cockenoe. 



30 Cockenoe-de-Long Island. 



rum ; nence we find but little recorded. Again, 
the war carried on between the Montauks and 
Narragansetts began in this year, and con- 
tinued for some years with great loss on both 
sides. It is very doubtful if Cockenoe took any 
active part in this war, or at least in its earliest 
stages ; for, according to the fragmentary 
depositions by the Rev. Thomas James and 
others, 32 in the celebrated Occabog meadows suit 
of 1667, — a quarrel over a tract of salt meadow 
located almost within sight of the village of 
Riverhead, between the neighboring towns of 
Southampton and Southold, — Cockenoe was 
then residing at Shinnecock with his first wife, 
the sister of the four Sachems of Eastern Long 
Island, who united in the East Hampton con- 

32 East Hampton Records, vol. i. p. 261 (Munsill's History of Suf- 
folk County, East Hampton Town, see Facsimile, p. 13), Extract : " and 
the Shinokut Indians had the drowned Deere as theirs one this side the 
sayd River and one Beare Some years since ; And the old squaw Said by 
the token shee eat some of it Poynting to her teeth ; And that the skin 
and flesh was brought to Shinnocut as acknowledging their right to it 
to asaunk squaw then living there who was the old Mantatikut Sachems 
sister; And first wife to Chekkanow." In the trial November 1, 1667 
(Colonial History of New York, vol. xiv. p. 601), an Indian testified : 
" It was about fourteen yeares agoe since the beare was kill'd," which 
indicates the year 1653 as the time the Saunk Squaw was living at 
Shinnecock. 



Cockenoe-de-Long Island. 3 1 



veyance. She was at this date, in consequence 
of the death of her brother Nowedonah, the 
Sunck Squaw> that is, the woman Sachem, of 
the Shinnecock tribe — a fact which proves that 
by marriage he came into the house of the 
Sachems, and was entitled to be designated as a 
Sagamore, as we find him sometimes called. 
In the latter part of August, 1656, 33 Wyan- 

33 Hazard's State Papers, vol. ii. p. 359. As this record has never 
been quoted in full in our Long Island histories, and Hazard's work is 
quite rare, it would be well to print it at this time, viz.: " Upon a com- 
plaint made by Ninnegrates messenger to the Generall Court of the 
Massachusetts in May last against the Montackett Sachem for murthering 
Mr Drake and some other Englishmen upon ours near the Long Island 
shore and seiseing theire goods many years since and for Trecherously 
assaulting Ninnegrett upon block Island and killing many of his men 
after a peace concluded betwixt them certifyed to Newhaven by the 
Massachusetts Commissioners by a Complaints made by Awsuntawney 
the Indian Sagamore near Milford and two other western Indians against 
the said Montackett Sachem for hiering a witch to kill Uncas with the 
said Milford Sachem and his son giveing eight fathom of wampam in 
hand promising a hundred or a hundred and twenty more when the said 
murthers were committed ; Notice whereof being given to the said 
Montackett Sachem and hee Required to attend the Commissioners att this 
meeting att Plymouth The said Sachem with five of his men came over 
from longe Island towards the latter part of August in Captaine Younges 
Barque whoe was to carry the Newhave Commissioners to Plymouth but 
the Wind being contrary they first putt in att Milford. The Sachem 
then desiring to Improve the season sent to speake with A usuntawey or 
any of the western Indians to see whoe or what Could bee charged upon 



32 



Cockenoe-de-Long Island. 



danch, the Sachem of Montauk, with five of his 
men, on complaint entered against him by the 
Narragansett Sachem Ninnegrate, presented 
himself before the Commissioners, then in ses- 
sion at Plymouth, Mass. Ninnegrate, how- 

him but none came but such as professed they had nothing against him; 
The Commissioners being mett att Plymouth; The said Sachem presented 
himselfe to answare but neither Niiinegrett nor Uncas nor the Milford 
Sachem appeared, only Newcom a cuning and bould Narragansett Indian 
sent by Ninnegrett as his Messinger or deputy charged the long Island 
Sachem first with the murther of Mr Drake and other Englishmen 
affeirming that one Wampeag had before severall Indians confessed that 
hee hiering under the Montackett Sachem did it being thereunto hiered 
by the said Sachem which said Sachem absolutly deneyinge and Capt 
Young professing that both English and Indians in those partes thought 
him Innocent : Necom was asked why himselfe from Ninnegrett haveing 
layed such charges upon the long Island Sachem before the Massachu- 
setts Court hee had not brought his Proffe ; hee answared that Wampeage 
was absent but some other Indians were present whoe Could speak to the 
case ; wherupon an Indian af eirmed that hee had heard the said Wampeage 
confesse that being hiered as above hee had murthered the said English- 
men ; though after the said murther with himselfe that now spake the 
Muntackett Sachem and some other Indians being att Newhaven hee 
deneyed itt to Mr Goodyer and one hundred fathome of Wampam being 
tendered and delivered to Mr Eaton the matter ended ; Mr Eaton pro- 
fessed as in the presence of God hee Remembered not that hee had seen 
Wampeage nor that hee had Received soe much as one fathom of wam- 
pam, Nor did hee believe that any at all was tendered him ; wherupon 
the Commissioners caled to the Indian for Proffe Mr Eaton being present 
and deneying it the Indian answered there were two other Indians present 
that could speak to it ; they were called forth but both of them professed 



Cockenoe-de-Long Island. 33 



ever, not appearing or submitting any proof of 
his allegations, Wyandanch was acquitted of 
the charges with much honor. At the same 
time he was relieved from the payment of the 
tribute, then four years in arrears, owing to his 

that through themselves and from other Indians where then att New- 
haven yett the former afermined Indian was not there and that there 
was noe wawpam att all either Received or tendered soe that the long 
Island Sachem for what yett appeered stood free from this foule Charge ; 
2 Cond, The said Newcome charged the Montackett Sachem with breach 
of Covenant in asaulting Ninnegrett and killing divers of his men att 
Block Island after a conclusion of peace, the Treaty whereof was begun 
by a Squaw sent by Ninnigrett to the said Sachem to tender him peace 
and the Prisoners which the said Ninnigrett had taken from the long 
Island sachem upon condition the said sachem did wholly submitt the 
said message, but afeirmed hee Refused to accept the Conditions which 
hee said hee could not without advising with the English whereupon the 
Squaw Returned and came backe from Ninnigrett with an offer of the 
prisoners for Ransom of wampam which hee saith hee sent and had his 
prisoners Relieved, Newcome affeirmed the agreement between the said 
Sachems was made att Pesacus his house by two long Island Indians 
deligates to the Montackett Sachem in presence of Pesacus and his 
brother and others, two Englishmen being present one whereof was 
Robert Westcott ; Pesacus his brother testifyed the agreement as afore- 
said. The Muntackett acknowlidged hee sent the said Delligatts but 
never heard of any such agreement and deneyed hee gave any such com- 
mission to his men, Newcome afeirming Robert Wescott would Testify 
the agreement aforsaid and desiring a writing from the commissioners to 
Lycence the said Wescott to come and give in his Testimony which was 
granted and Newcome departed pretending to fetch Wescott but Returned 
Not : The Commissioners finding much Difficulty to bring theire thoughts 



34 Cockenoe-de-Long Island. 



distressed condition. It is probable that Cocke- 
noe was one of the five men accompanying him 
on this occasion. 

He again makes his appearance on record in 
1657, 34 when he laid out and marked the bounds 
of Hempstead in Queens County, by order of 
Wyandanch, who had then acquired jurisdiction 
as Sachem in chief over the Indians of Long 
Island, as far west as Canarsie. 35 " Chegonoe " 

to a certaine Determination on Satisfying grounds yett concidering how 
Proudly Ninnigrett and how peaceably the Montackett Sachem hath 
carryed it towards the English ordered that a message the contents 
whereof heerafter followeth bee by Tho Stanton delivered to Ninnigrett 
and that for the cecuritie of the English plantations on long Island and 
for an Incurragement to the Montackett Sachem the two first particulars 
of the order to hinder Ninnigretts attempts on long Island ; made last 
year att New Haven bee continued ; Notwithstanding the said English 
are Required to Improve those orders with all moderation and not by any 
Rashness or unadvisednes to begin a broil unless they bee Nessesitated 
thereunto ; The Montackett Sachem being questioned by the Commis- 
sioners concerning the Painment of his Tribute Professed that hee had 
Pay d it att hartford for ten yeares but acknowlidged there was four 
yeares behind which the Commissioners thought meet to respett in 
respect of his present Troubles ; Plymouth Sept 17th 1656." 

34 Thompson's Long Island, vol. ii. p. 9. 

35 This protectorship was agreed upon and confirmed May 29, 1645, by 
Rochkouw [Yoco] the greatest Sachem of Cotsjewa?ninck (= Ahaquazu- 
wamuck). See Colonial History of New York, vol. xiv. p. 60. See also 
Plymouth Colonial Records, vol. ix. p. 18. 



Cockenoe-de-Long Island. 35 



witnesses the sign manual of his Sachem, who 
was present, on the confirmation deed of July 4, 
1657. 36 This deed is dated 1647, as given in 
Thompson's History of Long Island. 37 The 
mistake is again repeated in Munsill's History 
of Queens County, 38 and has been often quoted 
by others quite recently ; but the date will be 
found correctly given in the Colonial History of 
New York. 39 

The records of Hempstead under date of 
March 28, 1658, read: "This day ordered Mr 
Gildersleeve, John Hick, John Seaman, Robert 
Jackson and William Foster, are to go with 
Cheknow sent and authorized by the Montake 
Sachem, to marck and lay out the generall 
bounds of y e lands, belonging to y e towne of 
Hempstead according to y e extent of y e limits 
and jurisdiction of y e s d towne to be known by 
y e markt trees and other places of note to con- 
tinue forever." These boundaries are named in 
the release of the following May, which " Check- 
now " witnesses. The appearance of his name 



36 Thompson's Long Island, vol. ii. p. 10. 

37 Ibid., p. 9. 



38 P. 145. 

39 Pp. 416, 417. 



36 Cockenoe-de-Long Island. 



on the records of Hempstead, and on these 
deeds, has led some writers to assume that he 
was a Sachem of the Rockaways, 40 an error 
which I find persistently quoted. 

The year 1658 was a busy one for our 
Indian. The settlements are rapidly spreading 
and land is in demand by incoming colonists. 
On June 10 he laid out the beach to the west- 
ward of the Southampton settlement, giving 
Lion Gardiner the right to all whales cast up 
by the sea, and he witnesses the grant by his 
Sachem. 41 

On August 1 7 42 he marked out, by blaz- 
ing trees, three necks of meadow for the inhab- 
itants of Huntington, on the south side, in the 
western part of the present town of Babylon, 
which necks were afterward in controversy. 
The village of Amityville now occupies part of 
the upland bordered by the meadow. It states 
in the deed " that Choconoe for his wages, and 
going to marke out the Land shall have for 

40 Indian Tribes of Hudson's River, Ruttenber, p. 73 ; Munsill's His- 
tory of Queens County, p. 19. 

41 East Hampton Records, vol. i. p. 48. 

42 Huntington Records, vol. i. pp. 16, 17. 



Cockenoe-de-Long Island. 



37 



himselfe, one coat, foure pounds of poudar six 
pounds of led, one dutch hatchet, as also seven- 
teen shillings in wampum," which, together with 
pay for the land, " they must send by Chocka- 
noe." Our early settlers were always behind- 
hand in their payments, and in this case, as 
evidenced by a receipt attached, pay was not 
received until May 23 of the next year, when 
Wyandance refers to " the meadow I sould last 
to them which my man Chockenoe marked out 
for them." 

On April 19, 1659, 43 eleven years after the 
purchase, at an annual town meeting of the 
inhabitants of East Hampton, held probably in 
the first church that stood at the south end of 
the street, 44 "It was agreed that Checanoe shall 
have 10 s for his assistance in the purchase of the 
plantacon" Seemingly a dilatory and inadequate 
reward for such a service. Money, however, 
was very scarce and worth something in those 
days, and we cannot gauge it by the light of 
the present period. In comparison we can only 

43 East Hampton Records, vol I. p. 156. 
"Ibid., p. 66. 



3 8 Cockenoe-de-Long Island. 



refer to the fact that Thomas Talmadge at the 
same period was only paid 20 s , or double the 
amount, for a year's salary as Town Clerk. 
The record, however, is a valuable one, and is 
one of the straws indicating the esteem and 
favor in which Cockenoe was regarded by the 
townspeople of East Hampton. 

That Cockenoe took an active part in marking 
the bounds of the tract of land between Hunt- 
ington and Setauket, now comprised in the 
town of Smithtown, presented to Lion Gardiner 
by Wyandanck on July 14, 1659, 45 as a token of 
love and esteem in ransoming his captive 
daughter and friends from the Narragansetts, 

45 Book of Deeds, vol. ii. pp. 118-19, Office of the Secretary of State, 
Albany. The original is now in the possession of the Long Island Histori- 
cal Society : "Bee it knowne unto all men, both English and Indians, 
especially the inhabitants of Long Island : that I Wyandance Sachame, of 
Pamanacfc, with my wife and son Wiancombone, my only sonn and heire, 
haveinge delyberately considered how this twenty-foure years wee have 
bene not only acquainted with Lion : Gardiner, but from time to time 
have reseived much kindness of him and from him, not onely by counsell 
and advise in our prosperitie, but in our great extremytie, when wee wee 
were almost swallowed upp of our enemies, then wee say he apeared to 
us not onely as a friend, but as a father, in giveinge us his monie and 
goods, wherby wee defended ourselves, and ransomd my daughter and 
friends, and wee say and know that by his meanes we had great comfort 



Cockenoe-de-Long Island, 39 



is worthy of note, for it is evident that the 
Sachem had no one else so capable. In confir- 
mation of this surmise and my belief that he 
had a prominent part in all the land transac- 
tions of Wyandanch, my friend William S. 
Pelletreau, who is preparing the early records 
of the town of Smithtown for publication, 
has lately found recorded, in a dispute over 
the lands of Smithtown, a deposition taken 
down by John Mulford of East Hampton, 
dated October 18, 1667, which reads: " Pau- 
quatoun, formerly Chiefe Councellor to the Old 
Sachem Wyandance testifieth that the Old 
Sachem Wyandance appointed Sakkatakka and 

and reliefe from the most honarable of the English nation heare about 
us ; soe that seinge wee yet live, and both of us beinge now ould, and not 
that wee at any time have given him any thinge to gratifie his fatherly 
love, care and charge, we haveinge nothing left that is worth his accept- 
ance but a small tract of land which we desire him to Accept of for him- 
selfe, his heires, executors and assignes forever ; now that it may bee 
knowne how and where that land lieth on Long Island, we say it lieth 
betwene Huntington and Seatacut, the westerne bounds being Cowharbor, 
easterly Arhata-a-munt, and southerly crosse the Island to the end of the 
great hollow or valley, or more, then half through the Island southerly, 
and that this gift is our free act and deede, doth appeare by our hand 
martcs under writ." Wayandance's mark represents an Indian and a 
white shaking hands. 



40 Cockenoe-de-Long Island. 



Chekanno^ to mark out the said Rattaconeck 
\Cattaconecfc\ lands, and after that y e s d Pau- 
quatoun saw the trees marked all along the 
bounds and the Sachem being with him, he 
heard him [the Sachem] say it was marked 
right. And there is a Fresh pond called 
Ashamaumuk^ which is the parting of the 
bounds of the foregoing lands from where the 
trees were marked to y e pathway." This 
" Fresh pond " was at the northwest bounds of 
the town of Smithtown. 

At the same time and year, probably, as it 
bears no date, he witnessed the sale of "Old 
Field " by Wyandance to the inhabitants of 
Setauket in the town of Brookhaven. 48 Also 
about the same time the sale of " Great Neck 
or Cattaconocke," ® bounding Smithtown on the 
east as referred to by Pauquatoun. 

46 These two chief men of the Montauk tribe were frequently sent 
together by Wyandanch, and were possibly the Delegates sent to Pesacus 
at Rhode Island as stated in Note 33. Sakkataka or Sasachatoko was 
at one time chief counselor of the Sachem of the tribe. He was still 
living in 1702-03, as the Montauk conveyance of that date bears witness. 

47 See Brooklyn Eagle Almanac, 1895, p. 55. 

48 Brookhaven Records, vol. i. p. 16. 

49 " The Name of the Neck aboves'd ; is Cataconocke, March 8 1666 " 



Cockenoe-de-Long Island. 4 1 



On February 10, 1660, 50 he marked out, and 
also witnessed the confirmation of the sale of 
Lloyd's Neck, in the town of Huntington, by 
Wyancombone, the son and heir of the late 
Sachem Wyandanck, who had passed away, and 
whose son was then acknowledged by both the 
Indians and whites as the chief Sachem of 
Long Island. His name on this copy of a copy 
is misspelled as Chacanico. 

In the confirmation deed for Smithtown, dated 
April 6, 1660, 51 by Wyancombone y the land is 
stated to have been laid out by some of the 
chief men of the tribe ; these men are named in 
Pauquatouns testimony. In the copy recorded 
in the office of the Secretary of State at Albany, 
N. Y., Cockenoe is named as a witness in the 
corrupt form of Achemano. He united on 
August 16, 1660, 52 with the rest of his tribe 

(Brookhaven Records, vol. i. p. 16). The Indian name, of which 
"great neck" is probably a popular translation, signifies "a great 
field," Kehte-Konuk. 

60 Huntington Records, vol. i. p. 20. 

61 Book of Deeds, vol. ii. p. 118, office of the Secretary of State, 
Albany, N. Y.; George R. Howell in Southside Signal, Babylon, 
June 30, 1883. 

62 East Hampton Records, vol. i. 172. 



42 Cockenoe-de-Long Island, 



at Montauk, in the first Indian deed to the 
inhabitants of East Hampton for "all the 
afore sd Necke of land called Meantaquit^ with 
all and every parte thereof from sea to sea." 

About this time the Meantaquit Indians 
petitioned the Commissioners of the United 
Colonies of New England for protection from 
the cruelty of the Narragansetts 54 with the result 
that the latter were ordered not to come within 
six miles of the English plantations, and the 
former not to begin any new quarrels, but to 
behave themselves quietly, without provocation. 
The fact that Cockenoe was then living at Mon- 
tauk is proof that he must have been one of the 
petitioners. 

Thomas Revell, a merchant of Barbadoes, 
and a resident of Oyster Bay, L. I., was engaged 
with Constant Sylvester, one of the owners of 
Shelter Island, together with James Mills of 
Virginia, 55 and John Budd of Southold, in the 

53 " The Signification of the name Montauk," Brooklyn Eagle 
Almanac, 1896, pp. 54, 55. 

54 East Hampton Records, vol. i. p. 175 ; Southold Records, vol. i. 
P- 363. 

65 Southampton Records, vol. ii. pp. 14, 20, 209. 



Cockenoe-de-Long Island. 43 

West India trade. Through his partners, or 
otherwise, he became well acquainted with our 
friend Cockenoe, and employed him as an inter- 
preter in buying some land from the Indians 
in Westchester County, N. Y. We find that 
Cockenoe was with him at Manussing Island, at 
the head of the Long Island sound, where he 
gave Revell a deed, witnessed by John Budd 
and others, dated October 27, 1661, which 
reads : " I Cockoo Sagamore by vertue of a 
full and absolute power and order unto him 
and intrusted by Mahamequeet Sagamore 
& Meamekett Sagamore & Mamamettchoack 
& Capt. Wappequairan all Ingines living up 
Hudson River on the Main land for me 
to bargaine & absolutely sell unto Thos 
Revell . . . And fardder more I doe promise 
and ingauge myself in behalf of the prenamed 
Ingaines & y e rest of those Ingains which I 
now sell this land for and them to bring sud- 
denly after y e date hereof, for to give unto 
Thomas Revels or his order quiet and peacable 
possession," etc., etc. This tract of land thus 
conveyed was in the present township of 



44 Cockenoe-de-Long Island. 



Mamaroneck, Westchester County, N. Y. The 
power of attorney given to Cockenoe by these 
Indians reads: " One of our Councill Cockoo by 
name an Ingaine the which we do approve of 
and do confirm whatsoever the said Cockoo 
shall doe in bargaining and selling unto Thos 
Revell of Barbadoes," etc. This power of attor- 
ney by some means was dated two weeks after 
the execution of the deed, and in the litigation 
which ensued over the purchase this fact ruined 
the case for Revell. This deed and the power 
of attorney were both recorded at Southampton, 
L. I., 56 and are quoted in full, with particulars 
of the suit, in Sharfs History of Westchester 
County, N. Y., 57 and are too lengthy to dwell 
upon at this time. 

Cockoo, Cokoo, Cockoe, or Cakoe, as his name 
is variously given in the papers relating to 
this affair, is evidently an abbreviated form of 
Cockenoe?* All the facts recorded in connection 
with it point to him and to no one else. From 

66 Southampton Records, vol. ii. pp. 15, 16. 

67 See Mamaroneck, by Edward Floyd DeLancey, Esq. ; chap. 23, 
pp. 850, 851. 

68 See Note 18. 



Cockenoe-de-Long Island. 45 



the context of the papers, he was a strange 
Indian, not living up the Hudson river, where it 
is stated all the other Indians dwelt. That he 
was acting as an interpreter is evident — a fact 
which, as I have before observed, was a very 
rare qualification for an Indian of that period. 
Humphrey Hughes, whose name appears as one 
of the witnesses on Cockoo's power of attorney, 
was a seaman in the employ of Revell, and in 
his various capacities as a sailor, trader, fisher- 
man, or an inhabitant, is frequently mentioned 
in the records of both South 59 and East Hamp- 
ton towns ; 60 hence Cockenoe was no stranger to 
him. Two years afterward Hughes witnessed 
the renewal of the Montauk Squaw Sachem's 
whaling grant to John Cooper ; therefore, taking 
all these items of fact into consideration, it is 
not at all strange that Cockenoe should have been 
employed by Thomas Revell in buying land 
from the Indians in Westchester County. 

On February 21, 1662 61 (February 11, 1661) 

59 Southampton Records, vol. ii. pp. 14, 15, et seq. 

60 East Hampton Records, vol. i. pp. 159, 160, et seq. 

61 From the original in possession of the owner of Montauk, Frank 
Sherman Benson, Esq. 



46 Cockenoe-de-Long Island. 



Chekkonnow again united with his tribe in the 
deed known as the " Hither Woods " purchase, 
" for all the piece or neck of land belonging to 
Muntanket land westward to a fresh pond in 
a beach, on this side westward to the place 
where the old Indian fort stood, on the other 
side eastward to the new fort that is yet stand- 
ing, the name of the pond (Fort Pond) is 
Quaunontowounk on the north, and Konk- 
honganik on the south," 62 etc. At this date, 
as is proven by the above wording of this deed, 
the Montauks were encamped at the southern 
part of East Hampton village 63 under the pro- 

62 Quaunontowounk — Quaneunt counk (Eliot), " where the fence is," 
and refers to the "sufficient fence upon the north side of the pond." 
Compare " the Indian fence at Quahquetong" Trumbull's Names 
in Connecticut, p. 58 ; Konkhonganik " at the boundary place," 
Kuhkunhunkganash, " bounds" (Eliot), Acts xvii. 26. The agreement, 
Book of Deeds, vol. ii. p. 123, office of Secretary of State, Albany, 
N. Y., dated October 4, 1665, says : " That the bounds of East Hamp- 
ton to the East shall be ffort Pond, the North ffence from the pond to 
the sea shall be kept by the Towne. The South ffence to the sea by 
the Indyans." Askikotantup, daughter of the Sachem Wyandanch, was 
Sachem Squaw of Montauk at the date of this agreement. 

63 This passage reads : " The cruel opposition and violence of our 
deadly enemy Ninecraft Sachem of Narragansett, whose cruelty hath 
proceeded so far as to take away the lives of many of our dear friends 
and relations, so that we were forced to flee from the said Montauk for 



Cockenoe-de-Long Island. 47 



tection of the settlers, in order to escape the 
invasions of the Narragansetts, and Montauk 
was temporarily abandoned. 

In the same year Checkanow was sent with 
Tobis, another Indian, by order of the Sachem 
Squaw, widow of Wyandanch, to mark out 
John Cooper's whaling limits on the beach to 
the westward of Southampton. 64 

Some of the boundaries of Huntington, laid 
out in 1658, being disputed by their neighbors 
of Oyster Bay, it became necessary to send for 
Cockenoe that he might identify his former 
marks. At a town meeting held at Huntington 
March 8, 1664 65 (26-12-1663). " It: was voted 
that when Chiskanoli come that Mr Wood shall 
have power to agree with him, and the town to 
gratifie him to show the boundaries of the 
necks of meadow at the south bought by the 
town." 

shelter to our beloved friends and neighbors of East Hampton, whom 
we found to be friendly in our distress, and whom we must ever own 
and acknowledge as instruments under God, for the preservation of our 
lives and the lives of our wives and children to this day." 

64 East Hampton Records, vol. i. p. 199. 

65 Huntington Records, vol. i. p. 58. 



48 Cockenoe-de-Long Island. 



In the following spring 66 " Att a Generall 
meeting of y e Deputyes of Long Island held 
before y e Governer at Hempstedd, March 6 th 
1664 (March 16, 1665), It is this day ordered 
y fc y e Towne of Huntington shall possesse & 
enjoye three necks of meadow land in Contro- 
versy between y m and Oyster bay as of Right 
belonging to them, they haveing y e more anncient 
Grant for them, but in as much as it is pre- 
tented that Chickano marked out fouer Necks 
for Huntington instedd of three, if upon a 
joynt view of them it shall appeare to be soe, 
then Huntington shall make over the outmost 
neck to Oyster bay," etc. 

In the affirmation by John Ketchum and 
townsmen, who went with Cockenoe to these 
meadows according to the foregoing order of 
the assembly, we find the following interesting 
record: 67 " When wee came to the south to 
our meadows wee went ovar too neckes to our 
naybours who had called massapeege Indians, 
About the number of twentie, whoe opoased us 
About the space of an ower and would not 

66 Huntington Records, vol. i. p. 58. 67 Ibid., p. 90. 



Cockenoe-de-Long Island. 49 

suffer the Indian \Cockenoe\ to goe and shew 
us the marked tree, then we show the Sachem 
[ Tackapouska] the writing to which hee had 
set his hand which was our acquitance, and yet 
hee would not suffer the Indian to goe, when 
wee see nothing would prevaile, wee took our 
leave of them and said wee would carry backe 
this anser to them that sent us ; but they not 
willing that wee should, tooke up the matter 
as wee did apprihend spake to the Indians 
whoe after gave leave to the Indian who was 
Chickemo to goe and shew us the tree, many 
off massapauge Indians went with us. Thomas 
Brush went before and not taking notise off the 
tree went past it then a massapauge Indian 
called him backe and shewed him the tree be- 
fore Chickenoe came neare it, when Chickenoe 
came to the tree hee said that was the tree 
hee marked, as his master Commanded him. 
Massapauge Sachem said by his Interpriter that 
hee told muntaulke Sachem that hee was grived 
at his hart that hee had sould that necke upon 
which then wee was, but muntalket Sachem 
tould him that it was sould and it could not bee 



50 Cockenoe-de-Long Island. 

helped and therefore bid him goe and Receve 
his paye and so hee said hee did : and alsoe 
massapauge sachem owned his Land and that 
he had Receved the goods." 

Thomas Topping of Southampton and Wil- 
liam Wells of Southold, two of the Deputies, 
who were in Huntington at this time by order 
of the Assembly, 68 " touchinge three necks of 
meadowe, wh ch Huntington had formerly pur- 
chased of Muntaukatt Sarchem, and he informs 
true properiet y as also in responsion to Oyster 
Bay inhabitants, who lay a claime to part of the 
said three Necks, saying thare are fouer necks 
& one thereof belongs to them, the said 
Chickinoe now did playnly and cleerly demon- 
strate before them that the Tree he first marked 
by his Master Muntakett Sachems order, and 
hath a second tyme denied according to order, 
is noe other but that wh ch ought justly to be 
owned by him and soe marked as aforesaid, 
and comprehends only Huntingtons just Pur- 
chase of three Necks of Medow and in truth is 
three necks of medowe & not four according 

68 Huntington Records, vol. i. pp. 91, 92. 



Cockenoe-de-Long Island, 5 1 



to the present relation of Chickinoe" The 
Huntington men, it seems, were rather greedy, 
and Cockenoe, true to their interest, and having 
been " gratified," was trying to give them all 
they claimed. 

The Massapeag Sachem Tackapousha, who 
has put on record "that it grived his hart" to 
make this sale, was a thorn in the flesh of the 
settlers of these two towns as long as he lived. 
It was utterly impossible to satisfy his demands, 
The records show that both the English and 
Dutch were obliged to buy him off time and 
time again. 69 He is one of the most selfish 
and turbulent characters we find in the whole 
aboriginal history of Long Island. Had he 
and his tribe been more powerful than they 
were, they would have left a bloody page on 
the annals of Long Island ; as it was, it was 
his weakness alone that prevented it. 

On November 3, 1669, at East Hampton, 
before the Rev. Thomas James and others, 70 
"Ckeckannoo," with other chief men of the 

69 Colonial History of New York, vol. xiv. Index, under Tackapousha. 
™Ibid., p. 627. 



5 2 Cockenoe-de-Long Island. 



Montauk tribe, made an acknowledgment in 
" utterly disclayming any such vassalage as 
Ninecraft did declare to the Governor at Rhoad 
Island & doe protest against it in our owne 
names & in the name of y e rest of y e Indians at 
Montaukett & doe further declare that he shall 
have no more wampom of us without approba- 
tion of y e Governour of this place & that we 
acknowledge y e Governour at New Yorke as 
our chiefest Sachem." 

The same year, with his associates, Cockenoe 71 
gave a certificate that many years before they 
heard the old Sachem Wyandanch declare, in a 
meeting of the Indians, that he gave to Lion 
Gardiner and Thomas James all the whales 
which should come ashore, at any time, on 
Montauk. 72 

On December i, 1670, 73 together with Pon- 
tuts, alias Mousup, grandson of Wyandanch, and 
other chief men of the tribe, " Chekonnow " 

71 East Hampton Records, vol. ii. p. 33. 

72 The date of this gift to Gardiner and James was November 13, 1658. 
See East Hampton Records, vol. i. p. 150. 

73 From the original deed in possession of Frank Sherman Benson, Esq. 
There is an imperfect copy in Ranger's Deeds of Montauk, 1851. 



Cockenoe-de-Long Island. 53 



joined in the Indian deed for the land between 
the ponds, to John Mulford, Thomas James, and 
Jeremiah Conkling. This conveyance took in 
all the land to the southward of Fort Hill be- 
tween the " Ditch plain " and the " Great plain," 
and is remarkable for its Indian names of bound- 
ary places. 74 

By an entry of July 4, 16 75, 75 Cockenoe was 
one of the crew engaged by James Schellinger 
and James Loper of East Hampton, as the 
record states, "uppon the Designe of whalleing 
. . . During y e whole season next ensuing," 
then a growing industry on the south side. This 
service included the carting and trying out of 

74 These boundaries are as follows : " bounded by us, the aforesaid 
parties \i. e. f the Indians] Wuchebehsuck, a place by the Fort pond, being 
a valley southward from the fort hills pond, Shahchippitchuge being on 
the north side, the said land, midway between the great pond and fort, so 
on a straight line to Chabiakinnauhsuk from thence to a swamp where 
the haystacks stood called Make hongitc huge, and so through the swampe 
to the great pond, then straight from the haystacks to the great pond, so 
along by the said pond to a place called Manunkquiaug, on furthest 
side the woods, growing on the end of the great pond eastward, and so 
along to the sea side southward, to a place called Coppauhshapaugausuk, 
so straight from thence to the south sea," etc. See Indian Names in 
the Town of East Hampton, Tooker, East Hampton Records, vol. iv. 
p. i-x. 

,5 East Hampton Records, vol. i. p. 379. 



54 Cockenoe-de-Long Island. 



the oil at some convenient place, for which the 
crew were to receive, " one halfe of one share 
of all profit what shall bee by us gotten or 
obtained During y e said terme of time." 

The Indians of Long Island were disarmed 
in this year on account of King Philip's war, 
and on October 5 76 Mosup the Sachem, grand- 
son of Wyandanch, with Pekonnoo [an error for 
Chekonno], Counselor, and others, made suppli- 
cation by a letter written by Rev. Thomas 
James to Governor Andros at New York, 
" Alledging the fact that they had always been 
friends to the English and their forefathers 
before them, and this time of war fighting with 
the English Captains, desired that their guns 
might be returned, as it was the usual time of 
hunting." Owing to an indorsement on the 
back of this letter, written a week after by 
James, on mature consideration, the request in 
its entirety was not granted. 77 

76 Colonial History of New York, vol. xiv. pp. 699, 700. 

77 James wrote: "The lines upon the other side I wrote upon the 
desire of the Sachem & his men, they were their owne words & the 
substance thereof they also had expressed before Mr Backer, but since 
my writeing of them wch was almost a week since, I perceive that 



Cockenoe-de- Long Island. 55 

On June 23, 1677, 78 Cockenoe appeared before 
Governor Andros and Council at New York, in 
behalf of the inhabitants of Hampstead, who 
were having trouble with the Indians in their 
neighborhood, regarding land laid out by him 
in 1657, twenty years before, to which I have 
previously referred. At the same council he 
interpreted the speech of Weamsko, the Sachem 
of Seacotauk in Islip, who claimed the Nesquak 
[Nzssequogue] lands ; also the speech of Swa- 
neme y who pretended to own the land called 
Unchemau [Fresh Pond] near Huntington. In 
the copy from which this has been taken he is 
called Ckeckoamaugy an evident error of some 
transcriber. 

We find him occasionally employed by the 

delivering up the armes to the Indians doth not relish well with the 
English, especially since of late we heard of the great slaughter, they 
haue made upon the English in other parts of the country ; I per- 
ceive att Southampton ye English are much troubled ye Indians haue 
their armes & I thinke it doth much disturbe ye spirits of these haue 
them not ; as for these Indians for my owne part I doe thinke they are 
as Cordiale freinds to the English as any in ye Country & what is 
written by ym is knowne to many to be ye truth, though God knows 
their hearts," etc. 

,8 Colonial History of New York, vol. xiv. p. 728. 



56 Cockenoe-de-Long Island. 



proprietors of Montauk, especially in the year 
1682, when he is "paid 9 s for keeping the 
Indian corne"™ and as much " for burneing 
Meautauk" 80 which was done every spring to 
free the land from underbrush and weeds. 

The years are now rapidly fleeting, and 
Cockenoe is advancing in years with the settle- 
ments. The power of the Montauks is a thing 
of the past ; they exercise no control over 
the rest of the Long Island Indians, who con- 
vey land without the assent of the Montauk 
Sachem. As most of the younger generation 
of the natives can speak English, probably as 
well as he, there is no necessity for him to inter- 
pret. He is now about the last of his genera- 
tion still exercising the right as a member of 
the house of the Sachems, in the councils of the 
clan; and, on August 3, 1687, 81 he unites once 
more with the members of his tribe in the Mon- 
tauk conveyance to the inhabitants of East 
Hampton : " For all our tract of land at Man- 

79 East Hampton Records, vol. ii. p. 109. 
*>IHd., p. in. 

81 The originals of the Montauk Indian deeds are in the possession of 
Frank Sherman Benson of Brooklyn. 



Cockenoe-de-Long Island, 5 7 



tauket, bounded by part of the Fort Pond, and 
Fort Pond Bay west ; the English land south 
by a line from the Fort Pond to the Great 
Pond ... to the utmost extent of the Island 
from sea to sea," etc., and then he retires from 
our view forever on the records of the past. 

At the time of making this deed, half a cen- 
tury had elapsed since the conflict on the hills 
of Mystic — fifty eventful years in the history of 
our Colonies. If he was twenty-five years of 
age when he parted from Eliot in 1646 or 1647, 
he had then reached threescore years and five ; 
not by any means an aged man, but, for all 
we know, he may have lived for some years 
afterward. 82 

There may be other recorded facts relating 
to his life which I have overlooked, or they 
may lie buried in the time-stained archives of 
other Long Island and New England towns — 

82 As his name does not appear among the grantors on the confirma- 
tion deed for Montauk, dated March 3, 1702-03, we must accept it as 
sufficient evidence that he had passed away before that date ; although 
his associate and companion Sasachatoko was still living, an aged man. 
Rev. Thomas James died June 16, 1696, after a ministry of about forty- 
five years. 



5 8 Cockenoe-de-Long Island. 



inaccessible, undecipherable, and unpublished — 
which some future historian may unfold and 
bring to light. 83 The seeds of knowledge planted 
by Eliot on the fertile field of this native's mind 
bore good fruit, even if his preceptor did write 
at an early day he knew not what use he then 
made of it. For the part he took in the rise 

83 It is to be regretted that we have left us so little relating to the Rev. 
Thomas James and his knowledge of the Indians of Montauk. The few 
depositions and letters he left show that his knowledge of Indian tradi- 
tions and customs must have been quite extensive. In September, 1660, 
he informed the Commissioners of the United Colonies, then in session 
at New Haven, that he was "willing to apply himself, to instruct the 
Indians" of Long Island, "in the knowledge of the true God." An 
allowance of £io was therefore made for him " towards the hiering of an 
Interpreter and other Charges." In 1662 he was paid £20 " for Instruct- 
ing the Indians on Long Island," and the same allowance was continued 
for the two following years. In a letter from Governor Lovelace to Mr. 
James (Colonial History of New York, vol. xiv. pp. 610-11, we find : 
" I very much approve of yo r composure of a Catechisme. . . That wch 
I shall desire from yo u at p'sent is the Catachisme with some few select 
chapters & Lauditory Psalms fairly transcribed in the Indian Language 
■wch I w iH send over to England & have quantityes of them printed & if 
you thinke it necessary I conceive a small book such as shal only seme to 
the instructing ye Indians to read may likewise be compiled & sent with 
them," etc. The Catechism referred to above was probably never 
printed (Piliing's Algonquian Bibliography, p. 569). It cannot be pos- 
sible that James neglected to avail himself of Cockenoe's knowledge. 
The facts presented in this paper would indicate, from James' reference 
to him, that he found him a valuable assistant for many years. 



C I u.5 



Cockenoe-de-Long Island. 59 



and development of our settlements — a life 
work, unparalleled by that of any other Long 
Island or New England Indian — he deserves to 
be enrolled upon the page of honor. 

And now, amid the rolling hills of Montauk, 
which he loved so well, and within sound of 
the everlasting murmur of the mighty ocean, 
which he so often heard, in a grave unmarked 
and unknown, 84 he sleeps to await the resurrec- 

84 The numerous valleys and hilly slopes of the " North Neck," to the 
northeast of Fort Pond, are dotted in many places by Indian graves. 
The pedestrian will meet with them in the most isolated spots ; but 
generally near swamps and ponds in proximity to wigwam or cabin sites. 
The two principal are located at " Burial Place Point," on the eastern 
shore of Great Pond, and on the top of Fort Hill. The outlines of the 
Fort still visible (which was yet standing in 1662) now inclose forty 
graves, each marked by cobblestones laid thickly along the tops. The 
tramping of cattle has obliterated all traces of mounds, and the stones 
are generally on a level with the surface. On the outside, in close prox- 
imity to the others, are ten more, while on the slope of the hill to the 
northwest — the hill not being so abrupt in its descent at this point — are 
eighty-six more graves ; making a total of one hundred and thirty-six 
buried on this hill. All are marked in the same manner, the last being 
covered by a thick growth of blackberry vines and bayberry bushes, 
and would not be noticed by the careless observer. One of the graves, 
inside the outlines of the Fort, has an irregular fragment of granite for a 

headstone ; on it is carved very rudely I ~^H. This is evidence that the 

B R 

graves on this hill were all subsequent to the erection of the Fort, and 



6o CocJcenoe-de-Long Island. 



tion morn. A scarred and battered fragment 
from nature's world — a glacial bowlder, typical 
of the past — should be his monument 85 — on one 
side a sculptured entablature, inscribed : 

" To the Memory of a Captive in the Pequot 
War, the first Indian Teacher of John Eliot ; 
A firm friend of the English Colonists ; Cock- 
enoe-de-Long Island" 

are not very ancient. Those at "Burial Place Point " look much older, 
and some of the graves there are simply depressions not marked by any 
stones. In the " Indian Field," to the northwest of Great Pond, are many 
more. 

85 1 would suggest placing this at the top of Fort Hill, and thus pre- 
serving the hill and graves forever as a memorial. 



THE END. 



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